This application relates generally to methods and systems for access management. More specifically, this application relates to methods and systems for managing enrollment and authorization levels in access systems.
There are innumerable applications in which access needs to be managed, whether it be access to physical locations, access to system functionality, or other types of access. For example, physical-access applications include a variety of security functions in which the ability of an individual to access a building, room, parking facility, and the like is to be limited to authorized persons. Related to such physical-access applications are timekeeper functions in which the access of a particular individual to a physical location is monitored. This may include functionality in which only authorized individuals are permitted access, but there may also be implementations in which security for the physical location is less important than monitoring the time that certain individuals are present in the location. For instance, in employment settings, the actual time that an employee spends in a certain location may be monitored so that compliance with employment conditions may be verified.
Examples of system-functionality access may include access limitations to individual devices rather than to physical locations. Examples include limiting access to certain functionality for computers or machinery to those who have a certain access level. For instance, in a retail environment, it may be desirable to provide a supervisor with greater access to functions of a cash device than is afforded to clerks, even where the supervisor and clerks have exactly the same physical access.
There have been many different ways in which access limitations have been provided in the past. Common approaches include the issuance of physical keys to authorized personnel as well as the use of passwords intended to be known only by those having sufficient authority. Such mechanisms have well-known limitations in that keys can be copied, and keys and passwords are readily capable of being shared with others. In recent years, biometric systems have been developed and increasingly deployed to address some of these concerns. But even biometric systems require management that can be costly and time-consuming.